A number of technologies have been developed to provide businesses and consumers with the ability to transmit or deposit checks and other documents electronically via desktop and mobile devices. These technologies allow users to transmit instruments such as a check by sending an image from a device such as a scanner, cell phone, tablet device, or digital camera in a matter of minutes. Users can take a picture of a document such as a check using the camera in such devices and then transmit the document image for further processing, such as submission for deposit into an account. These technologies can save money for institutions by reducing item processing costs and labor expense, and can provide substantial convenience for businesses and individuals.
The issues that must be addressed by these technologies include capturing an accurate image of the document, effectively and efficiently communicating with the user regarding the adequacy of that image, and verifying the accuracy of the data captured from the image. Recurring problems in these contexts include determining the orientation of the check image, failure to capture an image of the MICR line, and failure to capture images of both sides of the instrument. Other technologies employ various tools to attempt to address this problem. These typically involve taking a photograph of the financial instrument, transmitting the photograph to a distant server, allowing the server software to evaluate the image, and, if the image is found inadequate, communicating the failure back to the user, who must then make appropriate adjustments and try again.